the cat who came to dinner

so, it was a nice weather day - in the 20s. i had the patio doors open. like i've had in the week or so prior. SINCE WE'VE MOVED HERE. and today, i had a couch delivered. so the doors were opened ALL THE WAY. and it was so nice, that i LEFT THEM OPEN.

and the kidlets came home from skool - a bit late, since it was yoga and rugby day (even tho varkenson really would rather have photography - yes, instead of rugby, not yoga)...

and we were sitting on newly aquired couch.

and out of the corner of myne eye, i spot a tail. i thought perhaps it was a wisp of my hair. i couldn't see for sure. and i got up from newly aquired couch and looked around. and saw nothing.

and promptly forgot about "the tail"

till dinner.



and this is who showed up.

we moved her OUT of the house (she had been in for several hours - SOMEWHERE). and we removed her.

but she remains.

even later, when i went outside to enjoy the mild night air and read one of the books i purchased for the varkenkidlets' birthday prezzies (my reading list is low - still waiting for the sea shipment), said varkenkittie (oh, and how i loathe to title her that, just yet) was there and waiting for me.

she is still outside, staring in the windows. longing to get in.

i cannot have THREE cats. even though 2 of them are still in china.

what oh what shall i do?

sunday queues

new country, new ikea...

one never gets all the ikea stuff one needs in the first or 2nd or even 3rd rounds. as a matter of fact, we forgot so much stuff i believe we'll be back for a 5th visit before the weekend. but we did manage to purchase the slatty things that go under the mattresses. of course, they didnt fit in the rental car, so we had to stand in the sunday queue for tuesday afternoon delivery. one needs an extraordinary amount of patience for a sunday queue. and the varkenhusband does not have it. this is why i generally do my ikea shopping on my own. of course, the sunday queue at the hornbach is something *I* do not have patience for, which is, of course, why we had to go there FIRST...

the water guy came today. he's fixing the leaky pipes in the furnace room. he managed to change out two sections of pipe, and install 2 shutoff valves. then he came upstairs and told me NOT to use the water for 2 hours. at least that's what i THINK he was saying. because i went downstairs and noticed that the pipes were still leaking. and i commented on that by pointing to the pipe and the dripping water. and he nodded his head and said "don't use the water for 2 hours" or whatever it was he said the first time. and then pulled out a hack saw from the box of plastic parts he had, and mimed the cutting motion of someone working very hard.

and then he left.

the guys that are supposedly here to fix the electric awning are here. but the awning is outside lying on the patio (where it has been since before we moved in) and they are upstairs in the childrens bedrooms w/ the windows open and power tools. and i see no connection between the two.

i am waiting for the satellite man to show up. he said he would come friday or monday. it is monday. so i hope he will come today. the website that we have for the satro service doesn't state anything about satellite tv. only cable. but the landlady says she has satellite. and the remote control thingie says we have channels, but no signal. i'm not quite sure what to expect, but one can only hope that he at leasts shows up.

mr funny thinks he's funny

varkenson thinks he's quite clever

see how he thinks no one notices him in formation?

well, they do.

but the varkenchild still wins in the great photo-op, eh?

am i look good?

varkenson goes for the funny.
just a little something to enjoy cheer way time in a chinese airport...

the varkenkidlets conquer the great wall at muitianyu

so, here it is. and here they are. we managed to go on the coldest day in beijing history (well, in 55 years' worth of history). cold cold cold. minus 17. celsius. don't worry - it's still warm for you folks in the midwest (that's -2 F for you).

this one was actually before we got on the wall itself. quite the view. stuning, actually.

mostly had the wall all to ourselves. too cold but for the hardiest of the t-shirt and crapolah schwag sellers. kind of like the old-time american postman...

a varken halloween

doesn't he just look so happy? joker was made to order at the fabric market. took three guys from three different stalls to decide what would look best on him.

turns out? EVERYTHING looks best on him.


couldn't find a good picture of the varkendaughter withOUT her curlers. but we spent a good month perusing the fabric market before finally choosing to be some blue powerpuff goth girl (why are they always GOTH nowadays?)

before deciding on the powerpuff girl, we were bargaining hard for the corpse bride. but no one really understood why we would want a natted up old wedding gown. and refused to charge us anything less than the perfect bride's dress.

mops or art?

clever way to utilize yesterday's laundry?
wonder if they have special ones for special rooms?
and which one is for mopping the OUTSIDE? our ayi uses the same one. think i should give her a copy of this picture?



almost as good as the money laundering picture. but more colorful.

money laundering day

let's just file this under
THINGS THAT JUST MAKE YOU WANNA GO "huh??"



huh?

tommy? chanel? prada???

this is not the sewn in labels i REALLY wanted to show - i forgot my camera when i went to the CHINESE chinese clothing market (the one where my shanghainese friend had to bring me). there, they had the sewn in labels pinned on the side of each stall. you want prada? i sew in prada. you want chanel? i sew in chanel.

here, you see all the paper labels that get clipped to the outsides of the items. you choose who makes your bag, clothes, whaddeveh... and you can sport any label you'd like. here, most people buy in the hundreds. so they can clip in their own label of choice. i only wish i could have had a better shot. i think i was just a bit shell-shocked from this visit...

book talk on the bund

so on a hazy/cloudy sunday morning the varkenkidlets headed out to M on the Bund for a book talk from a "faaaaamous author" we all love faaaaaaamous authors, right? and this one was RIGHT up varkenson's alley. PHILIP ARDAGH. he wrote such funny stuffed stoat stuff as the eddie dickens trilogy. full of death and dearth and well, let's just say it is EXACTICALLY the kind of stuff the varkenboy enjoys.

quite an intimate setting. in the "crystal room" at M on the bund. which is a whole building of "M" restaurants, nightclubs, and coffee houses??? and the annual literary festival.

they even had a little play acting - just so we could be a part of ongoing plot development. jack was a window in which other child was being thrown out of after being bitten by a pony...

and then we had to go outside to the balcony w/ the best view on the bund (it looks fabulous at night. and great in the sunshine). i don't know why we managed the only 20 minutes of the day to be out there when it was completely clouded over.